S. Korea recovers remains of soldiers killed during Korean War after resuming excavation at DMZ battle site

Soldiers take part in a war remains excavation project conducted from Oct. 15 to Nov. 28 at White Horse Ridge in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, Monday. Courtesy of the defense ministry

The military has recovered the remains believed to be those of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War at a former battlefield in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), in the first such excavation work conducted in the area in three years.

In October, the ministry announced a plan to resume war remains excavation at White Horse Ridge in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, in what it called part of measures to reduce military tension between the two Koreas. The project had been halted since 2022.

Following a 40-day search involving troops from South Korea and member states of the U.S.-led U.N. Command, the military recovered the remains of 25 bodies and 1,962 pieces of belongings, according to the ministry.

An on-site identification showed that a majority of the bodies are those of South Korean soldiers killed during the three-year conflict, the ministry said, adding it plans to conduct more detailed tests involving DNA analysis.

"This is part of efforts to return to the families... those who fought in the Korean War, as well as a practical measure to implement the government's pledge to establish peace in the DMZ," it added.

Under a now-suspended military tension reduction accord signed in 2018, Seoul and Pyongyang had agreed to launch a joint project to retrieve remains of soldiers killed during the Korean War from former battlefields inside the DMZ separating the two sides.

In 2019, South Korea began work to retrieve the remains at Arrowhead Ridge and later expanded such efforts to White Horse Ridge, but the move had been suspended since November 2022 due to safety concerns triggered by deteriorating inter-Korean ties.

Through the excavation works, the military has retrieved the remains of some 500 soldiers from the two sites, which were among the fiercest battlefields during the war, where the most casualties were reported.

The North has not responded to calls for joint work.